The novels of Graham Greene are set in difficult places, at difficult times. His characters wrestle with moral dilemmas in steamy tropical cities, such as Saigon, Havana, Port-au-Prince and elsewhere. He brilliantly evoked atmosphere in settings such as hotels, bars, cafés, opium dens and brothels. Greene conjured a world so convincing and distinctive that critics and readers have called it "Greeneland".
Tim Butcher (above) has been following Greene's trail in West Africa, but there was real disappointment when he went in search of one of the writer's favourite haunts, the City Hotel (top photograph in 2002; middle photograph in 1960s), which the author wrote about in Journey Without Maps (1936) and used as the Bedford Hotel in The Heart of the Matter (1948). Click here to read Tim Butcher’s article on the BBC website, here to listen to his broadcast on Saturday 22nd May 2010 on BBC Radio 4’s “From Our Own Correspondent”, and here to download the podcast.
On the morning of Saturday 2nd October 2010 at the Graham Greene International Festival Tim Butcher will give the annual talk on New Research on Graham Greene, and his title will be “Chasing The Devil – How Greene Lost His Heart To West Africa”. Formerly a correspondent with The Daily Telegraph, Mr. Butcher’s most recent writing includes Blood River: A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart (2007) and Chasing the Devil (to be published in 2010).
On the evening of the same day at the Festival 2010 the BBC’s senior foreign correspondent Humphrey Hawksley, who has also been following Greene’s trail in West Africa, will speak after the Buffet Supper on the title “Journey Without Maps”. Mr. Hawksley’s most recently published book is Democracy Kills: What’s So Good About The Vote? (Macmillan, 2009).
Tim Butcher (above) has been following Greene's trail in West Africa, but there was real disappointment when he went in search of one of the writer's favourite haunts, the City Hotel (top photograph in 2002; middle photograph in 1960s), which the author wrote about in Journey Without Maps (1936) and used as the Bedford Hotel in The Heart of the Matter (1948). Click here to read Tim Butcher’s article on the BBC website, here to listen to his broadcast on Saturday 22nd May 2010 on BBC Radio 4’s “From Our Own Correspondent”, and here to download the podcast.
On the morning of Saturday 2nd October 2010 at the Graham Greene International Festival Tim Butcher will give the annual talk on New Research on Graham Greene, and his title will be “Chasing The Devil – How Greene Lost His Heart To West Africa”. Formerly a correspondent with The Daily Telegraph, Mr. Butcher’s most recent writing includes Blood River: A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart (2007) and Chasing the Devil (to be published in 2010).
On the evening of the same day at the Festival 2010 the BBC’s senior foreign correspondent Humphrey Hawksley, who has also been following Greene’s trail in West Africa, will speak after the Buffet Supper on the title “Journey Without Maps”. Mr. Hawksley’s most recently published book is Democracy Kills: What’s So Good About The Vote? (Macmillan, 2009).
